


The Terminus Revolution

by Hermes93



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-19
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-02-21 18:45:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2478611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermes93/pseuds/Hermes93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set 7 years after the Reapers were destroyed(synthetics lived though) and a new threat emerges.<br/>Colonel Ballack is now the absolute ruler Khar'shan and the Batarian Race. He rules them with an Iron Fist and has adopted aggressive policies. The Council believe he is planing something out in the Terminus Systems, as he has been linked to the now all Batarian Mercenary Group: The Blue Suns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Normal Night

**The Citadel Docks, 2193**

It was the final job for the batarian group. Plant some tech into the server and leave. Everyone was on edge, hoping C-Sec wouldn’t show up, but that was the least of their worries. A vigilante had taken on to stalking the citadel at during the night cycle, cracking down on crime. Crano was new to this whole espionage affair and he wouldn’t have taken the job if he wasn’t being paid well. Five of them had volunteered to this with various jobs to do. Since arriving on the Citadel, they had done several; this was to be the last one. Then it was every man for himself.

“Hurry up” he whispered to the tech expert “I want to get out of here”

“Just need to sync the tech and were good. Just keep an eye out”

So far everything they had done had been simple enough. They knew the risks of this job, especially the part of not being taken alive. It was simple, escort someone of importance off the citadel and plant devices in the several servers around the Presidium, C-Sec, Zakera Ward and finally the Docks. The other teams that had been sent before had done their jobs, however, the vigilante had proved to be more tenacious than expected. Luckily for them, all teams had succeed in evading him. Perhaps he wouldn't show up.             

Suddenly there was a scream and gunfire. Everyone was now on full alert, drawing there pistols from there holsters. Crano turned to the tech expert.

“Keep syncing the tech, and then we get out of here”

There was an uneasy silence.

“Is it him?” one of them asked “The Archangel?”

“Most likely, now were fucked”

“You three spread out. Find him, take care of him.”

The others looked nervously at Crano, who nodded back. He knew what he said. Slowly the three spread out over the area. Crano stayed with the tech expert. If he was killed then the mission was forfeit. Their employer did not tolerate failure well. 

The silence continued.

“C’mon, where are you?” he muttered to himself

With his Tempest SMG, Crano kept looking in the shadows, trying to see a shape or anything that shouldn’t be there. Keep it together he kept saying to himself.

“Alright, I’m done” the tech expert said. He started placing the lid back on the server “Fuck the others, I’m getting out of here”. That was the last thing he said when the bullet entered the back of his skull, flooring him. Crano started to fire wildly into the shadows where he thought the shot had come from. He started to panic. Now was not the time. He couldn’t help himself.

“WHERE ARE YOU?!”

The bullet exited out of his chest. He fell to his knees, dropping his weapon and clutching the exit wound. He struggled to breathe. He heard footsteps behind him. The exiting of a heat sink that clattered to the floor.  

“Here”

The figure stepped before Crano and kicked him onto his back with a thud.

“That’s a wound, you’ll live long enough for me” said the figure in a gravelled voice. He was wearing Blue and black armour, with yellow angel wings painted on his chest and a smaller one on both arms. What made him more intimidating was the blue cloak that he wore over his head and how it flowed down to the ground. His face was just shadow with a light over his eye. A true Angel of Death. He held a Mantis Sniper Rifle, which he pointed at Crano’s chest wound. 

"I need information” the figure growled “or I get out of you painfully.” Crano said nothing. All he did was death stare back at him.

“Wrong choice”

With a bayoneted like action, he put the barrel of his rifle in Crano’s chest. The batarian, groaned in pain. Archangel didn’t even flinch. He twisted his rifle sharpening the pain for Crano.

“Alright!!” yelled Crano “We have men…”

“I’m shocked and amazed” Archangel said sarcastically “What else?” He pushed the barrel a millimeter further.

“Just to escort…various things…”groaned Crano. The pain was unbearable and Archangel knew it.

“Escort who?” he said, menacingly

“I made…a mistake….”

Archangel knelt beside him, took his hand and pulled back the batarians finger with a nasty snap. Crano screamed in agony.

“Escort who?!” he growled. Crano said nothing, only screamed. Another finger later “I said you’d be alive long enough for me, I didn’t say it be nice”. At that Crano gave in

“Alright…some Quarian bitch…I never saw her face…she seemed important….”       

“So why are you here?” His talon reached for another finger. Crano said nothing still dealing with the pain. It didn’t stop Archangel from another finger snap.

“Ordered....” Crano croaked out. With an intimidating stare, Archangel lent forward

“A name” said Archangel “I want a name”

Crano started to fade.

Shit. He had no time for this. He grabbed the batarian by his collar and puled him almost upright.

“A name now!!!” he shouted in the batarians face. Crano smirked right back at him.

“For Acolyte...” There was a crack; suddenly he started to foam at the mouth. By the time Archangel knew what was happening, the batarian was dead.

Archangel just dropped him. Great. He walked over to the server they had been tampering with and wrenched it open. He scanned the inside with his Omni-tool. It picked up that something wasn't meant to be in there. He reached in and yanked out the small device. It was the shaped like a hexagon and gleamed a slight blue. He had to take it back and examine it more closely. He stood up; trying to figure out what all of this was about. Was it a simple sabotage, who was the quarian and who or what was Acolyte? None of it made sense. The batarians hadn't been easy to trust for a few years now.

He holstered his rifle on his back and tapped on his omni-tool a distress for C-Sec to come running, and disappeared into the shadows.

 


	2. A Hunch

**Turian Councils Office**

Garrus sat at his desk, twirling the small device. He’d never seen any tech like this. It wasn’t Batarian or scrounged Reaper Tech. He’d called for the human councillor to take a look at, as that was her general area of expertise. He placed it down next to a picture of the Normandy Crew taken in Shepard’s apartment all those years ago. At that moment his office door slide open and in marched his advisor and friend Herso. His mandibles were flared and his omni-tool out and ready. He reached Garrus’s  desk.             

“Another rough night?” asked Herso. Garrus realised that he sounded a little troubled

“The usual” replied Garrus “Why?”

Herso tapped on his omni-tool and showed a vid taken from the news. It was about a brutal attack on batarian smugglers by the vigilante Archangel.

“What do you call this then?” Herso said

“Damn good news” replied Garrus, in an almost sarcastic tone. This didn’t go well with Herso.

“Really?!” snapped Herso “I only thought you were taking down drug lords or arms dealers, not batarian trash!” He paused, remembering who he was talking to.

“Do you even realise how bad this looks? That the citadel can’t stop a vigilante? The batarians won’t like this one bit when they find out.”

“They weren’t smugglers”

Garrus pushed the small device across his desk. Herso looked at it, before picking it up.

“That was in one of the server boxes in the docks.” Garrus explained “They were ordered to plant it there by someone. I don’t know who, but that’s tech I’ve never seen before.” He avoided mentioning Acolyte as he didn’t know what it was. Herso looked up at him. He knew exactly how he got this information.

“Was Ballacks name mentioned?” said Herso, placing the devise back on the desk.                

“No”

“Then what if Ballack isn’t connected with this? What if it was just some thugs told by someone else to do it?”

Garrus brought up his omni-tool, and flicked on the profile of the Batarian he interrogated.

“His name was Crano” he explained “a merc linked with the Blue Suns; his other friends were all freelancers. The one who planted that devise came from Khar'shan. Now why would the Blue Suns hire freelancers, get a tech expert from the home world and come here, when they can just get a tech guy from their ranks? So maybe it was Ballack who organised it.”

There was a pause in the room, before Herso spoke.

“That’s called a hunch” he said slowly “If there is no solid evidence link…”

“Two of our agents are dead” Garrus interrupted “the second mentioned his name.”

“But like you said: he’s dead” replied Herso. He paused long enough for the subject to change “Right now you’re Councillor Vakarian, not Archangel.” He opened up his omni-tool showing a schedule. “And as councillor you’ve got a full day ahead of you as have I. I’ll be in office if you need me again.” At that he closed his omni-tool and walked out.

Garrus slumped further in his chair. He knew Herso was right. Without evidence Ballack couldn’t be touched, no point in trying to tamper evidence this time.                      


	3. The Robber in the Mist

Alliance Detention Centre, Earth

Shepard leant back in the chair and started to drum his fingers on the table. The file in front of him labelled ‘Caution’ didn’t mean much to him. He knew who he was dealing with and she could be nice if spoken to properly. The waiting was what he hated and leg wasn’t helping him. It had been a long time since the end of the war, yet the trauma his body had gone through was still healing. His left hand was missing two fingers along with part of this left ear. The scars on his face looked as though he’d been in a fight with a butchers knife. It had only been in the last year that they had started to fade. The same was said for the others all over his body. That didn’t trouble him at all. What troubled him was to constantly wear an exo-skeleton. He had been a train wreck when the crew found him in the rubble of the Citadel. Months of physical therapy had helped him walk again, however he was never going to be on the active the field again. He preferred this, yet remained in the active duty. It meant he could be with Liara and never leave her again.   
Now he was the Head of the Spectres, Admiral to his old unit the 103th Marines and Deputy Commander of the Alliance Military under Fleet Admiral Hackett. Busy life.

The door slid open. Three guards carrying stun batons entered. In the middle of them was their prisoner, who had state of the art handcuffs on. She had short, wild dark hair and a purple rectangle tattoo on her lower lip. She cheekily smiled as the guard removed the cuffs. He took no notice.

“Sir” he saluted at Shepard, which he did back “Prisoner 518 as you requested.”

“Thanks” Shepard replied “I’ll speak to her alone. We may be a while.”

The guard saluted and gestured to the other two to follow him. As soon as they left there was a click at the door, meaning it had been locked. The prisoner, still smiling, looked over at Shepard.

“Hi Shep, it’s been a while”

“Kasumi” Shepard gestured to the seat opposite himself “I would get up and hug you, but cameras are watching.”

“Oh” Kasumi said disappointingly, as she sat down “and I could have pinched it and sold it to the press. The scandal” Shepard then remembered that she said thing of sounding cheeky and serious at the same time. He leant forward, places both hands on the table.

“Before I go on, I have a question.” He said “How the hell did you get in here? So much for a master thief”

“I wasn’t caught stealing” 

“I know. You got done for public exposure.”

“I was tricked by a competitor” she said defensively

“Was he tall?” Shepard asked

“Yep”

“Biotic?”

“Yep”

“Muscular?”

Kasumi didn’t answer, but he knew exactly what the answer was. He grinned to himself as he opened the file in front of him.

“I knew you had a thing for that, but I always thought it was just a joke.”

“You tell anyone about this Shep, and I will kill you” she said, smiling with a sinister streak. “Its bad business”

“Speaking of which” he said. He pushed the open file to Kasumi “Its Ballack…”

“I know who it is” she interrupted. The smile had gone from her face and she looked at Shepard with an intriguing look. “You want me for a third suicide mission don’t you?” she said slowly

“You only did one”

“Battle of Earth counts” she said quickly, “Well the answer is no. I’m no soldier assassin or spy. Get your own people to do this, or better yet ask the ‘Shadow Broker’, I’m sure she can get to places others can’t.” She got up and was about to walk over to the door, when Shepard stopped her in her tracks.

“We have and they failed” She looked back at him “Can you sit back down and just hear me out?” She looked at him again and slowly sat back down, watch him like a cat.  
“We sent two operatives into the Terminus Systems to find out if Ballack is running the Blue Suns like his private army. We told them that if they got captured they were black listed, so naturally no contacting them was allowed.” He paused as he shifted his left arm   
“After a few weeks, we got word they were on their way back with information that was for the council’s eyes only.”

“I missed the part where they failed.” Kasumi said “Can you repeat that?”

“I’m getting to that.” he said “They came back to the Citadel. Everything was going well, no problems found. On their way to meet me, they were ambushed. I don’t by who, but by the time we got to them one was already dead, the other was barely alive. The only thing he said was ‘Dharak’ before he died. We looked on them for what he meant by it, but nothing was found on them.”

There was silence in the room. Kasumi looked down at the file; scheme read some of it and then looked back up at Shepard.

“Well?” he asked “Can you help us?” 

Kasumi looked at him. A smile appeared on her face.

“I’ll do it” she said “If, when it’s done, I don’t come back here. You let me go.” Shepard looked at her in confusion.

“That’s it?” he asked “Just like that? What I just told you didn’t put you off?”

“Please” she said cheekily “Remember who you’re talking too. Plus those guys sounded like amateurs, you should have come to me earlier.” The smile never faded “Now do we have a deal?” she raised her hand. Shepard looked at her and shook her hand. 

“Deal”


	4. Pieces of a Puzzle

**Citadel, Human Councillors Office**

The perfect office, belonging to the perfect women, sitting behind a perfect desk just told you everything about the human Councillor, Miranda Lawson. Well that’s what Garrus believed any way. Her long hair and looks made her look approachable. It was her eyes though, almost like pure ice, which made even Shepard nervous.  
As Garrus walked in, she stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him.

“Vakarian, what can I do for you?”

Garrus reached her desk and slid forward the small hexagon device in front of her. He remained standing, crossing his arms.

“A little something found by Archangel, arrived on my desk this morning. Figured you can find out what it does.”

Miranda picked it up and started twirling it in her hands, examining it in thoroughly, her eyes never looking away. Then she stood up and walked towards Garrus.

“You might want to stand back.” She said, placing the device in a clear spacing on the floor “I wouldn’t want to zap you.”

Before Garrus could say anything, electricity shot out of Miranda’s omni-tool striking the device dead centre.

“What are doing?!” exclaimed Garrus “Don’t destroy it.”

He pushed her aside and marched over to where the device was. Amazingly it was still in one piece. Puzzled he picked it up. No damage or scorch marks where on it as if nothing had hit it. He turned to Miranda.

“I’m good at tech Vakarian,” she said smugly “I know what can and can’t be easily destroyed.” She sat on the corner of her desk, tapping her omni-tool.

“It’s a cross of tech. I not sure what it is though.” she looked back at Garrus “Who did you get this off?”

“Archangel”

She raised an eyebrow at his answer

“Garrus, you’re talking to a former Cerberus operative, who knows that you’re back in business. And if you’re worried about bugs in my office, forget about it, I got rid of them.”

Garrus flexed his mandible into a grin. That’s a relief.

“Group of batarians placed it in a server box at the docks. How they got their hands on it, I don’t know. But they were ordered to do it, that much I do know.”

Miranda got a beep on her omni-tool. She tapped on the information a couple of times, her eyes never leaving the data. Garrus always felt a little uneasy when she went into that state.

“Damn it” she muttered under her breathe, before shutting off her omni-tool “If Tali was still on the Citadel I’d call her, despite you two not being on the best of terms” she said, glaring at Garrus, making him shift his weight and feel more uncomfortable. “Send it to the Bryson in the labs, they’ll figure out what it is.”  
Garrus nodded, pocketing the device and started walking to the door.

“Thanks for the advice Miranda. I see you soon.”

“And make amends with Tali. You were perfect together.” She called out after him.

 

A couple of hours later, Miranda was finishing off for day, when suddenly Ashley entered, wearing her dark blue light armour and carrying a data pad.  
“Miranda” she almost shouted “You need to see this.”

She dropped data pad in front of Miranda, who started to scroll through it.

“Alright, so we know where the Blue Suns operate right?” said Ashley, quickly, “We hit some Blue Sun arms dealers in the Terminus System and we found encrypted data on them. That is it.” she gestured to the pad. Miranda looked up at Ashley.

“Is Ballacks name mentioned on this data?” she asked

“No, but that not the point, see me and Shepard have an idea…”

Miranda put up her hand.

“Stop.” she looked at Ashley “I know” she sighed “We want him as much as the next person. But we don’t have the proof required to bring him down.” Ashley could have sworn her head off at Miranda. Luckily for her this wasn’t Udina.

“Me and Shepard have an idea.” she said coolly “and it involves a mutual friend of ours. She can slip onto Khar'shan unnoticed and get the information we need to nail that bastard to the wall.”

Miranda mulled it over in her mid, sending another black op, on a planet off limits to the rest of the galaxy.

“Well?” asked Ashley “What do you think?”

“I don’t know” Miranda said “Have you Shepard gone over every possibility of what could happen if this goes south?”

“Miranda, we know the risks. It could cause another war, but were getting the best to help us out. So do we have your authorisation to do this?”

There was silence in the office.

“Alright” said Miranda “This will be the last time we send someone to Khar'shan.”

Ashley grinned at her answer. A plan was falling in together

“Thanks Miranda.”

She saluted her and walked to the door. To work, she thought to herself, let’s not screw this up.


	5. Never Ending Debate

**Rannoch, the Senate**

Admiral Rann moved on to the whole point of the meeting.

“I called all officials here to discuss the topic about Project Icarus, or commonly known as the ‘Geth Code’. This has been in debate for some time now. Whiles some of you see it as a potential weapon and fail safe, some of you see it as to dangerous to continue.”

There was a wave of noise within the Senate. Rann raised her hand for silence, and then continued.

“The Geth themselves have taken a natural stand on the matter and leave it to us to discuss this out in the open. Admirals Yisin Tenn and Tali Zorah believe that it should be scrapped for fear of the code falling into the wrong hands. Senator Meena Sheenar and Admiral Han Gerrel feel that it is necessary in case of another Morning War.”

Another wave of noise followed, louder this time. Admiral Tenn stood up from his seat and looked at Rann. She complied asking for silence. After which Tenn began to speak.

“Admiral Rann, Senators and fellow members. The Geth Code is dangerous. I know we have fail safes should any of the code get found out by our enemies, but this is too great a risk. The Geth are no longer our enemy. It’s thanks to a Geth that we stand here on our home soil. That we live without our helmets, that we live in the most advanced technological city in the galaxy and have a rightful seat on the council. But this Geth Code is a knife in the back on those who helped us. I will not kill off an entire race because of what happened in the past. If that doesn’t change your mind, take a look at the Krogan.”

He sat back down with a mix of cheers and outrage form both side of the Senate. Senator Meena stood up and started her argument.

“We have this code because of what might happen. We need a contingency plan even for our allies. Now that the Geth are fully evolved A.I’s, what makes them not think that one day they could turn on us, just like in the Morning War. They out number us and our smarter then what they were several years ago. I believe that scrapping the Code would be our worst decision, that if we do this we may as well be unprepared for the worse. I personally believe we should have done what Admiral Xen wanted us to do during the war and destroy them!”

There was uproar. It turned into a shouting match between both sides.  
All this time Tali Zorah watched from the balcony, looking down on the senate, seeing the situation unfold.  
“Tuho*” she muttered to herself. Meena had always caused the most problems in the senate, seeing Xen as the true hero of the Quarian people and openly disliked the geth. 

Tali knew how this debate was going to end. She turned up her hood and walked out of the Senate into the city.

Catyn. For a visitor it was more impressive than Illium. With shimmering towers dominating the skyline the city was a hub full of tech. What had started as just a landing zone for the many Quarian ships at the end of the war had turned into a town and then a city in just over a year. The Geth had worked non-stop to provide their creators with a ‘perfect’ capital city. It was also during the building, that the Geth began to help restore the Quarian immune system. Tali had been one of the first to volunteer. It took a few months of therapy, but now she could breathe in the Rannoch air, free from getting an infection. Now, the whole Quarian population had a functioning immune system and all thanks to the Geth. It wasn’t just a capital they had built. Smaller settlements around Rannoch were set up, and the old Quarian colonies were being settled on once again. The military had been improved tremendously thanks to geth tech and weaponry. The Quarian fleet had shrunk from its original size after the war, but it still had advanced Cruisers and Frigates making it a small, powerful navy.   
Everything was alright, and then the Geth Code was made. But it wasn’t made by a Quarian, but by a Geth. It was dubbed Project Icarus. It could be used to shut down the Geth Hubs, should ever they rebel and start another Morning War. It was made to only target the Geth and the Hubs.  
The code was split into individual parts, and handed to Admirals Rann, Gerrel, Koriss and Xen. Only the complete code would activate Icarus. But that had changed when Xen made a weapon out of it. Four years after reoccupying Rannoch, reports came about an attack on a remote colony in the Terminus Systems. All planetary defence systems had shut down, fighters fell out of the sky, omni-tools failed or overloaded, killing the user, even the shields on soldiers fried out. Xen had taken the code from the others and added a new line of code. It turned into a devastating, unrestricted EMP. The colony massacred, Xen returned thinking of a hero’s welcome. Instead she was arrested and tried on Rannoch for mass murder. She claimed to have done it for her people, to prove what true power they now possessed and made a statement that the Geth should be shut down so they could never share this power. The Council demanded Xen be transported to the Citadel and stand a galactic trail for genocide. On her way to the Citadel her transport was ambushed by pirates and she was killed in the process. Many believed that it was most likely a revenge killing. The Code was then changed, so only the input of Rann made the code active. Xen was branded as a traitor to the Quarian people.   
Since then the ‘Geth Code’ has always been up for debate. Tali argued that the Quarian people weren’t ready to have such power, referring to the Illusive Man and what power can do to a person. She was back by Admiral Tenn of the Quarian Marines and many of the senate. But the likes of Admiral Gerrel and Meena Sheenar had more influence in the senate. They argued that the code should be held onto should Rannoch be under attack by the geth or invaders. It was voted on in the Senate, but was always held onto.

Tali slumped in her office chair, her head resting on her desk, her long dark hair becoming a mop. It may have the best view of the city, but right now she just wanted to sleep. She guessed what the senate would vote on. Working flat out all week to prove her point and she was exhausted. She looked up slightly at the picture on her desk of the original Normandy crew. It was taken during their hunt for Saren, but it meant a lot to her. Shepard in the middle with Liara by his side, Kaidan trying to look tough, Wrex trying to look positive and Ash with her arm flung round Tali’s side with Garrus…

Garrus.

She still wore her ring. She didn’t know why.

“Ambassador Zorah” 

Tali looked up as a Geth walked into her office. Host was no doubt going to tell her about how the vote had gone. It was smaller than most Geth, with purple and black colouring and a yellow flashlight. Tali stayed slumped at the desk. 

“Let me guess” said Tail sarcastically “We won.”

Host said nothing for a moment trying to process what she said. 

“The code remains” he said

Tali put her head back on the table with a small thud and groaned. It seems Tenn’s efforts had been for nothing.

“Thanks Host” she said. Host turned and left.

All that talk and for nothing. Well, she thought, this has been a wasted journey. She knew she had to go back on the embassy on the Citadel. 

She sighed. If only.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Bitch


End file.
